1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a rotating apparatus for a liquid crystal display and, more particularly, to a rotating apparatus for a liquid crystal display capable of enabling a fine angle adjustment and simplifying its rotation structure by rotating the entire liquid crystal display in such a manner that angle adjustment of the liquid crystal display is made by a surface contact of its lower surface rather than by a hinge shaft.
2. Related Art
Generally, an electronic device such as a telephone (e.g., key-phone terminal), a printer, etc. employs a liquid crystal display (hereinafter refer to as ‘LCD’) to display a set operation mode and an operational state of the device as a user manipulates a button of the device.
The LCD is constituted so as to enable angle adjustment of the LCD from a main body of the electronic device (such as the telephone or the printer), thereby providing convenience of use.
An example of an angle adjusting device of an LCD has been disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 1997-0031647, entitled ANGLE ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR LCD OF A TELEPHONE filed by the assignee of the present invention.
In the angle adjusting device for the LCD of the telephone, a wired or wireless telephone comprises: an upper cover provided with an LCD mounted thereon and fixed thereto by a screw; a lower cover engaged with the upper cover and fixed to an upper housing of the telephone; a hinge enabling the upper cover and the lower cover to be rotated within a predetermined angle; a first groove, a second groove, a third groove and a fourth groove for indicating an angle of the LCD, respectively; a lock for locking the LCD after the completion of the angle adjustment of the LCD; a resilient member which pushes the lock into inner parts of the grooves by a resilient force when the lock protrudes into inlets of the first to fourth grooves; and a handle for moving the upper cover and the lower cover upward and downward. The angle adjustment step of the LCD is composed of four steps.
However, the conventional LCD angle adjusting device, as described above, has a problem in that fine angle adjustment is impossible since the angle adjustment is accomplished by the predetermined four steps.
In addition, prior art arrangements have other problems, such as increase in the number of parts, excessive assembly time, and an unacceptable failure rate, since the lock is supported by the resilient means so as to require a large number of parts for adjusting the angle of the LCD.
In order to solve the problems described above, the present inventor has disclosed a new configuration in Korean Patent No. 10-0299130, entitled ANGLE ADJUSTING STRUCTURE FOR AN LCD.
A vertical angle adjusting device of an LCD can be vertically rotated about a coupling axis by hinging both side walls of a mounting recess of a main body housing with both sides of one end of the LCD. The vertical angle adjustment device is installed at a lower case of the LCD, is provided with a sawtooth thread formed like a part of a circular gear about the coupling axis, and a resilient rib integrally formed with the housing at the mounting recess of the main body housing so as to correspond with the sawtooth thread. A sharply protruding shape is coupled with the sawtooth thread, and when the LCD is rotated about the coupling axis, the end part of the resilient rib is inserted and fixed into recesses of the sawtooth thread by stages.
However, the latter configuration has a problem in that the above composition still cannot accomplish a very fine and smooth angle adjustment, although its angle adjustment width is somewhat decreased in comparison to the former configuration.
Further, the latter configuration is also burdened by an inferior design due to external protrusion of the angle adjusting device.
The following patents are considered to be generally pertinent to the present invention, but are burdened by the disadvantages set forth above: U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,860 to Ohgami et al., entitled PORTABLE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS WITH DETACHABLY MOUNTED KEYBOARD, issued on Sep. 15, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,476 to Ohgami et al., entitled PORTABLE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS HAVING A BASE A DISPLAY AND A MICROPHONE, issued on Jun. 9, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,296 to Satou et al., entitled ELECTRONIC APPARATUS WITH HINGED DISPLAY AND LATCH MECHANISM FOR RELEASABLY LATCHING DISPLAY IN CLOSED POSITION, issued on Mar. 5, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,880 to Sato et al., entitled PORTABLE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS HAVING A HINGE MECHANISM WHICH ROTATABLY CONNECTS A FLAT DISPLAY UNIT TO A HOUSING INCORPORATING A FRAME FOR SUPPORTING A CIRCUIT BOARD, issued on Nov. 25, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,456 to Paulsen et al., entitled PORTABLE COMPUTER, issued on Feb. 18, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,579 to Nakajima et al., entitled PORTABLE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS HAVING EXPANSION CONNECTOR COVERED BY PIVOTALLY MOUNTED UPPER AND LOWER COVERS HAVING LATERALLY EXTENDING GUIDE PORTIONS, issued on Aug. 18, 1998; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,400 to Ohgami et al., entitled PORTABLE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS INCLUDING SPACE-SAVING COMPONENT MOUNTING FEATURES, issued on Nov. 18, 1997.